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> Center of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2903
Center of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2903
author: NASA/ESA/Novapix
reference: a-gax29-03001
Image Size 300 DPI: 12 * 12 cm
The wonderful barred spiral galaxy NGC 2903 in the constellation of Leo is a well-known spring observing target for amateur astronomers. With a magnitude brighter than 10, it is easy to find and identify in a small telescope. However, only large-aperture telescopes or long-exposure photographs can reveal its intricate spiral structure. NGC 2903's swirling whirlpool of stars spans 80,000 light-years - slightly less than our own Milky Way - and is located at a distance of some 25 million light-years. This colourful image, obtained by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 onboard Hubble, lays bare the fine detail in the central part of the galaxy's bar. The image is dominated by the bar running diagonally just above the centre of the image. It is the structure with a slightly reddish glow lying within the bluish spiral arms. The reddish colour arises from large amounts of dust in the bar. The telescope has also seen that star-forming regions are distributed in a mighty 2000 light-year wide ring around the centre of the galaxy, in a circumnuclear ring (seen as a whitish glow around the centre in the image).
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